Thomas Stuart threw five touchdown passes and the Roadrunners, ranked No. 1 in the state in the CCCFCA coaches' poll, beat fifth-ranked Fresno 41-21 in the Gridiron Classic Bowl on Saturday at Cowan Stadium to earn a spot in the California junior college championship game Dec. 14 against Fullerton, which beat Riverside 23-14.

"We're really excited. We've been working toward this all year since spring," Stuart said. "It's great to see the fruits of your labor."

Stuart was a touchdown shy of matching Aaron Rodgers' single-game record of six, though he had four in the first half. He was 9 of 14 passing for 181 yards and no interceptions, hitting six different receivers while five of them scored touchdowns. He connected on first-quarter strikes to Wes McCoy for 37 yards and C.J. Grice for 30 to give Butte a 14-0 lead it never abdicated.

The Roadrunners (11-0) will now get a shot at No. 2 Fullerton at Cowan Stadium on Dec. 14 in the state title game, the first time Butte will be on that stage since their national championship season in 2008.

"There's only two teams left going to be playing, and we're fortunate it's going to be us," Butte head coach Jeff Jordan said. "This is great for our college, great for Butte nation, and it's exciting. I'm really happy for these players and my coaching staff, because they've worked really hard."

David Brannon, Timazray Shepherd and Jon Parks all hauled in scoring passes from Stuart, with Shepherd's coming on a 42-yard bomb immediately after Jariah Booker picked off Fresno quarterback Marcus Montero near midfield in the second quarter. All told, Butte scored 20 points off turnovers — three Montero interceptions and a Ram fumble — and that was literally the difference in the game.

"We took advantage of things when we had the opportunity," Jordan said. "I thought we came out the way we needed to. We wanted to get up on them early and force them to change their offensive style, and they did some."

Indeed, Montero easily surpassed his season high in pass attempts, throwing for 352 yards on 27-of-50 passing with a touchdown to Brayden Sanchez in the third quarter from 18 yards. But Montero also was picked off by Booker to set up Shepherd's score, and Parks snatched Stuart's back-corner fade from 12 yards out at the end of the third period right after Anderson intercepted a shallow Montero toss in Fresno territory.

Unlike most of Butte's opposition in this dominant season it's enjoyed, the Rams (7-4) weren't buried early — in fact, when Montero snuck in from 2 yards out at 9:25 in the second quarter, Fresno found itself down just 14-7 and a big play away from tying it up. Instead, Stuart hit Brannon on a 5-yard cross to make it 21-7 at the 5:51 mark of the second period, the first of 21 straight points for the Roadrunners that pushed the game out of reach for the Rams, despite the guests creating loads of offense.

Sanchez had nine catches for 164 yards and Micah Ledezma turned in a serviceable rushing effort of 61 yards on 14 carries for Fresno. But, as has been the case all year, big numbers didn't equal big scoring for Butte's opponent. So while the Roadrunners stagnated with just six points after McCoy's 95-yard halftime kickoff return for a touchdown, it scarcely mattered.

"I can't say enough about the defense in the second half. They played their heart out," Stuart said. "They got us some really big stops when we needed it. I feel like the offense kinda let us down late in the game, so it's a great team win."

Shepherd, a wide receiver and return specialist, was Butte's leading rusher with 62 yards on two carries on a day the Roadrunner rushing corps was slowed by Fresno's able defensive line.

Now, Butte gets another two weeks to prepare for Fullerton, the Southern Division champion that also can boast an undefeated record at 12-0. In a format where the host alternates annually, the Roadrunners have the luxury of staying home this time around. Unlike the 2008 season, Butte will not enter the state title game with a chance to earn a national championship. In 2008, two national polls had the Roadrunners as the consensus No. 1 team in the country; this year, Butte is ranked No. 3 in the JCGridiron.com national poll, behind Fullerton and East Mississippi, and the latter is already set to face Georgia Military for the NJCAA title on Dec. 8. Nonetheless, the sense of accomplishment for the Roadrunners on Saturday was substantial — after all, Butte is now in the midst of a 21-1 run over two seasons, the first two-year group ever to do that in the program.

"We need to keep cleaning things up and we've got a lot of work to do these next couple weeks," Jordan said. "We know we can tighten it up a little bit. But I'm really happy we get the opportunity to keep playing."